It's been a busy week, but not where laundry is concerned! Our dryer and our dishwasher bit the bullet within a day of eachother, so I got a break from laundry and Vin got dish-pan hands.

We spent $75 on a part for our dishwasher that appeared to be the problem, but when it didn't magically make our dishwasher run again we cut our loses and found an older dishwasher on Kijiji for FREE. Vin installed it (with a bit of help from his little helpers) and so far so good!

We also got a newer used dryer that is significantly newer (and less of a fire hazard) than our old one. And it works like a charm as well. Hopefully the rest of the appliances will cut us some slack for a time.

We've gone to the 'Park Cafe' on 20th street twice now. This last time we took the boys with us and instead of them giving the kids a picture to color they gave them cooks' hats to color on. Vin scored himself one as well and right away put it to work in our own kitchen. Now he just needs an apron.

On Monday night Dillon smacked his head on the edge of Atti's bed and busted open his eyebrow. I didn't even realize the extent of the damage until he stopped crying (which, surprisingly, was after 2 minutes) and picked his head up from my shoulder. It clearly needed stitches so, since Vin was at work, I called Mom to come pick Atticus up (he stayed the night at their house) and I waited for Vn to come home. 

Which wasn't as easy as I anticipated it'd be. 

Between my calls to the gym Vin was at, and the fact that my message never made it's way to him, we didn't actually get to emergency until 2 minutes before pediatric emergency stopped taking registration.

I was mostly concerned about the needle he'd have to get, but they used a freezing gel instead so that trauma was skipped. They spread on a bunch of gel, then put a band-aid on it and we sat for 1/2 hour to wait until his eyebrow was good and frozen. He was so good. He just sat quiet and content to watch what was going on around him. He had no idea what he was in store for.

The doctor (a really nice younger lady) brought Vin bubbles to blow, but that only really distracted Dillon until he was wrapped up in a blanket with his arms under him and held down on a bed by the nurse. 

He kept crying out, 'Mommy help', and then when it was clear I wasn't going to rescue him (oh the guilt I felt!) he'd cry out, 'Daddy help' (which is something he'd normally never say so it was doubly pitiful). He also had such anger and rage in his eyes when he'd look at the nurse that was holding him down and yell, 'Don't!' Poor kid. 

He ended up with 3 stitches and was more than happy to get out of there and back home (at 1:30am!). Atticus got a fun sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's out of the deal, and Dillon got Mommy and Daddy to himself for the night.

He also got a visit the next day from his biggest cousins and some chocolate to make those stitches feel better.

And Atticus got some ball practice (he also got some chocolate). Thanks boys (and Auntie Carrie) for stopping by. Nothing gets Atticus more excited than cousins! Come by any time.

The weather has been beautiful. Our grass less so. Since our underground sprinkler system was installed, it seems, by drunks we've taken to using a regular sprinkler with which to quench our thirsty lawn. 

And, apparently, Silas. He lays himself squarely in the line of fire and enjoys the coolness it brings.

We took the boys to the zoo yesterday. We didn't have a huge amount of time (obviously no time for naps as Dill fell asleep almost the second we got in the truck), but it was still nice to get out and see the creatures.

A swift fox. It averages 2.6kg. It's about half the size of our cat. It looked like a cute little puppy all curled up in a ball.

Atticus was determined to catch himself a chicken. He chased that thing all over the place, and got pretty close to actually touching it.

But in the end it jumped the fence and taunted him from the other side.

Grandma and Grandpa took Atti to the zoo a few weeks back and Atti's request on the way there was to pet a horse. I guess they didn't see these 2 that time around because Atti was rather disappointed his wish didn't come true. This time, however, we found the (miniature) horses and he petted their noses.

And watched some bum scratching.

And then we happened upon a cat. 

A cat? At the zoo? Just wandering about?

Tis true. We happened upon a cat, at the zoo, just wandering about. And it was a supremely friendly cat that was thrilled to death to have any attention at all. Even that of a 3 year old.

And then all of the sudden that cat decide it no longer wanted to wander about but instead be pushed about. One moment it was was rolling around on the ground, next moment it was lounging in the bottom of our stroller. 

So it came with us for a tour around the zoo in the comfort of shade and relaxation. I almost wanted to just walk right out the the front gate with it, but the zoo seems like a rather nice place for it to be compared to the life on a leash out our front door that our own cat 'enjoys'.

Nice looking lion.

We were feeding them grain so they wouldn't bite us, but that didn't stop them from being sassy (Atticus mistook the sassiness for friendliness and almost got his nose nibbled {who am I kidding, bit right off}).

Lots of peacock activity. I think perhaps the snappy males were gunning for some female action.

And that was that. Next time we'll go earlier and stay for a weiner roast.